10 Practical Google Nexus 7 Tricks & Tips

Google’s Nexus 7 has drawn a lot of attention from the global market since its release last July (first in the United States and Australia). Among various tricks and tips for Nexus 7 on the Internet, I have selected 10 of them I think are the most useful, to help you get the most of this awesome device.

1. Turn off keyboard sounds

We sometimes feel the keyboard sound on Nexus 7 is rather annoying whereas it is “ON” by default. Follow the steps below to turn off the keyboard sound.

Step 1: Slide down from the upper right side of the screen and select “SETTINGS”.Step 2: Scroll down to select “Language & input”.Step 3: Tap the setting icon on the right side of “Android keyboard”.Step 4: Uncheck “Sound on keypress”.

Repeat steps above and check the keypress item in case you want to turn the keyboard sound on.

2. Organize apps

In a world filled with apps together with considerable free ones, people are likely to get the Nexus 7 home screen crowded very quickly. We can organize apps on Nexus 7 by putting similar apps together.

Step 1: Press and hold an app to place it on the home screen.Step 2: Repeat Step 1 to bring all comparable apps to the home screen.Step 3: Press and drag one app onto another. There will be a collection (folder) formed with both apps included. Repeat this step to get all similar apps into one folder.

To delete / uninstall an app on Nexus 7, we can press and hold one app until an “Uninstall” bin icon appears at the top of the screen. Directly drag the app to the bin.

3. Amazon app store

If you are interested in apps from Amazon app store, you have to install Amazon Appstore app on Nexus 7.

Step 1: Search for “Amazon” on Google Play and download & install “Amazon Mobile” app on Nexus 7 first. There is no Amazon Appstore app on Google Play so we can’t directly install it.Step 2: Launch Amazon Mobile app, search for “apps”, you will find Amazon apps listed. Select one app, scroll down to tap “Install Amazon Appstore to buy” to download Amazon Appstore through browser.Step 3: Pull down from the upper left side of the screen to check the download progress. Once it says download complete, tap to complete install.

You can also download this app from Amazon official site.

4. Access to all files on Nexus 7

There is no file manager app on Nexus 7 by default. To access personal files, we can go to Google Play store, search for file manager apps such as ASTRO File Manager and download & install.

Tap ASTRO File Manager app to access all files on Nexus 7.

5. Read eBooks on Nexus 7

The built-in reader on Nexus 7 does not support sideloading (directly loading a file, often an eBook directly from a website instead of from the Google app store) eBooks. To read eBooks on the Nexus 7 freely, we can sideload books to Nexus 7 and then rely on free reading apps such as Aldiko and Mantano to read. What’s more, the Kindle for Android app enables users to read Kindle books on Nexus 7. You can also read and listen to Kindle books on the Nexus 7 with FBReader and related components, which supports Text-to-Speech function in English, Spanish, French, German and Italian.

6. Set wallpapers

To set the wallpapers on Nexus 7, we can long-press any space on the home screen and select one from Gallery, Live Wallpapers and Wallpapers. If there is nothing attractive, go to Google Play to search for wallpapers. Select one to your taste, install the wallpaper app and set it as your wallpaper. Note that live wallpapers might consume more battery.

7. Take a screenshot

People who want to take a screenshot on nexus 7 Just need to hold the power button and volume down key at the same time. This also applies to other Android devices running on Android 4.0 or up.

8. Turn on developer’s mode on Android 4.2

Some apps cannot work properly unless the developer mode is ON. However, Google has hidden this option on the latest Android OS (v 4.2.2). To enable developer mode, go to “Settings” -> “About tablet” -> tap the “Build number” for several times (I did 3 times or so), the develop mode option will come out.

9. Speech to Text

People who rarely use smart devices might be unfamiliar with this function. Within any application that accepts text input and uses the virtual keyboard, tap the microphone icon on the keyboard and start talking. This process can be done on the device offline, although the Nexus 7 manual says it requires a WIFI connection.

10. Get more storage space

Because there is no SD card slot, many people worry about the limited storage on the Nexus 7. In this case, we can either take advantage of free cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive and Amazon Cloud Drive (photos), or use wireless data storage systems such as the Kingston Wi-Drive.

Guest Post by AdaWang:Ada Wang works for an eBook-related company and mostly writes articles about how to read eBooks / Kindle books on Nexus 7, iPad, Windows 8 and the like. She also write tech-related guides, tips, reviews, etc. for different blogs.

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